Does Acupuncture Work and Can This Be Proved?

[EvililldokCix]

Hi All,

Just a thought. I wonder if anyone with a good knowledge of acupuncture has any contribution to make to the thread on the 'paranormal' in general - "Is There Any Way To Convince a Sceptic?" It's at
http://www.healthypages.net/forum/tm.asp?m=127020&mpage=5&key=&#143716

This is a longish (now 5-page) thread, but acupuncture just came into question in the recent page or two. 'Soapy Sam' has a particularly interesting link in his December 25 post - that the history of acupuncture isn't anywhere near as clear as popular books make out.

And is there pretty incontrovertible evidence for acupuncture working? (Sam is if you like a representative of apparently open-minded sceptics, but any evidence would have to be pretty tight.)

Venetian

 

[Bambi]

Hello,

Meridians have been "medically traced" in the body.
http://www.uri-geller.com/virtmed.htm
<<In 1985 Pierre de Vernejoul at the University of Paris carried out a definitive and much-quoted experiment. He used a radioactive marker, technetium 99m, which he injected into subjects at classic acupuncture points. He then used gamma camera imaging to track the subsequent movement of the isotope. He was able to show that the tracer migrated along the classic meridian lines, travelling quite quickly: a distance of 30 cm in 4-6 minutes. [P. de Vernejoul et al., 'Etude Des Meridiens D'Acupuncture par les Traceurs Radioactifs', Bull. Acad. Natle. Med. Vol. 169 (22nd October 1985): 1071-5.] As a control he made a number of random injections into the skin (not at acupuncture points) and also injected the tracer directly into veins and lymphatic channels. There was no significant migration of the tracer at other sites than an acupuncture point. >>

Artemis